This year, after PrintCraft kindly printed 1000 calendars for us at cost price, we were faced with a dilemma. After the design of the calendar was stalled and there was a challenge with calendar delivery, we had exactly 3 weeks until Christmas to sell the calendars.

Luckily, Newtown and Darlinghurst markets allowed us to sell calendars from their venues. Thanks to John Owed, of Data Republic, who came along at the last minute, we were able to start selling the calendars at 7am in Darlinghurst. However, we noticed that not that many people were gripped by the power of the project.

At around 9am I went to the markets at Newtown. A kind volunteer from Lentil As Anything restaurant helped us set up the stall, and I’d invited some participants along to join in the fun. I quickly realised they had a lot to teach me – Michelle, a calendar entrant and proud effusive transgender lady, took matters into her own hands. We were amazed that within an hour she had already sold over 10 calendars.

We offer participants calendars for $10 which they will resell for $20. The winning participants engaged the public immediately and signed the pages of the calendar that were theirs.

Thanks to a concerted month of effort, not only were the participants able to generate a supplementary income, but they also allowed Café Art Australia to breakeven for the year (we are all volunteers) and therefore be in a position to continue the project sustainably into 2017.